When Folklore Boards the Spaceship: Asian Women Artists Rewire Sci-Fi’s Imagination
Forget the old trope of distant, mystical “East” in sci-fi—today, Asian women artists are turning that stereotype on its head. Their work blends ancestral myth with digital futures, inviting viewers into worlds where tradition and technology collide in unexpected ways.
Patty Chang’s journey to China’s real-life Shangri-La exposes the gap between tourist fantasy and lived reality, unraveling the Western myth of paradise. Morehshin Allahyari’s multimedia jinns reclaim Middle Eastern legends, challenging patriarchal and colonial narratives with every pixel. In Indonesia, The House of Natural Fiber launches the goddess Lakshmi into the cosmos, reimagining her as a planetary gardener in a universe of green-lit circuitry.
From robotic rituals in Kara Chin’s animated kitchens to Sputniko!’s genetically engineered “red silk of fate,” these artists fuse folklore with sci-fi, not as escape, but as a way to reimagine identity, power, and belonging. In their hands, the future isn’t a break from the past—it’s a remix.
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